With him the Hornets’ defensive intensity improved, and behind a balanced attack and Ariza’s defense on the perimeter, the Hornets beat the Orlando Magic 99-93 in front of a sellout crowd of 18,944 at Amway Arena.

With the win, the Hornets (33-22) ended a four-game losing streak, in which all four teams had scored more than 100 points.

Sidelined since a Feb. 2 game at Oklahoma City, Ariza was given clearance to play Friday before tipoff after participating in the morning shootaround.

Ariza played 40 minutes and caused havoc for the Magic’s Hedo Turkoglu, who was coming off ball screens to try to get free. At 6-foot-8, Ariza’s length forced Turkoglu into attempting difficult shots.

“I couldn’t wait to get back on the court,’’ said Ariza, who had two blocked shots, five rebounds and scored 10 points. “I just wanted to do my job by getting them out of rhythm a little bit. That’s what we did as a team.’’

Ariza’s return appeared to give his teammates a confidence-boost. After surrendering 23 3-pointers in the previous two games against the Minnesota Timberwolves and New Jersey Nets, the Hornets held the Magic to 5-of-21 shooting from 3-point range.

After David West’s jumper gave the Hornets the lead for good at 93-91 with 3:22 remaining, they held the Magic scoreless on 10 consecutive possessions. The Hornets closed the quarter getting defensive stops on 13 of 14 possessions. The Magic scored 13 points in the quarter on 5-of-18 shooting.

“If you just look at the results, bottom line is that we can’t beat a good team,’’ Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy said. “We just got so badly outplayed on the perimeter.’’

Orlando All-Star center Dwight Howard scored 16 points in the first half, but was held to four points the rest of the way, with Aaron Gray doing most of the defending. Howard took only three shots in the second half.

“Big props to Coach (Mike) Malone, he came up with a game plan to keep those guys off of that 3-point line,’’ Hornets Coach Monty Williams said. “Even though they got some looks, they didn’t get their average. I thought Trevor did an amazing job fighting screens. We’ve said it before, we don’t care if guys are out, we can control our defense. That’s who we are, and that’s who we have to be every game.’’

During the final 6:33 in the fourth quarter, the Hornets held the Magic to just one field goal, a layup by J.J. Redick with 25.7 seconds remaining.

In his second consecutive start at shooting guard, Willie Green led the Hornets with 24 points. Paul had 15 points and seven assists. West had 17 points and 17 rebounds. Gray grabbed eight rebounds.

“Trevor was huge for us, because we tried to get up in the lane and bump Dwight, so we could get out to the shooters,’’ Paul said. “Trevor is one of those guys that covers up a lot of mistakes. Just seeing him out there gives us a different confidence level about our team. Everybody gets confidence knowing he is out there.’’

Just before tipoff, Ariza greeted his teammates with a smile and then tapped hands with the Amway Arena announcer seated courtside.

“I tried not to think about the pain, but it’s still sore,’’ Ariza said. “I was just thinking we need to get as many stops as we can to win the game.’’

Ariza forced a key turnover late in the fourth quarter, when Jason Richardson mishandled an inbounds pass at halfcourt.

The Hornets’ 61-point first half was their second-highest total this season. Passive and ineffective as shooters in their previous two games during the second quarter, the Hornets had little trouble scoring against the Magic, getting 33 points. Backup point guard Jarrett Jack made five of six shots, and the Hornets led 61-52 at halftime.

Backup forward David Andersen, who struggled in Wednesday’s loss to the Nets in scoring two points, made three of four shots in the quarter and closed the game with 10.

Unlike in Wednesday’s 103-101 overtime loss to the New Jersey Nets, when Paul committed seven turnovers and scored just nine points, he played like an All-Star on Friday night. He had 12 points by halftime and didn’t commit his first turnover until 5:56 remained in the third quarter.

“This was needed after four losses in a row,’’ Paul said. “You forget what it is like to win. When we came out of that last timeout midway through the fourth quarter, I told the guys, ‘Lets win this, we’ve had too many close ones.’ ”

Notes: Paul was fined $15,000 for verbal abuse of a game official, it was announced Friday by Stu Jackson, NBA executive vice president of basketball operations. The incident occurred after the Hornets’ 103-101 overtime loss to the New Jersey Nets at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. on Wednesday. ... The Hornets sent rookie small forward Quincy Pondexter back to New Orleans after he was diagnosed with conjunctivitis, an eye infection. Williams said he does not know how long Pondexter will be sidelined.